I miss you
by Sha Yurigami
Summary: Every day is a gift given by and by everything that you stood for. You were the one who allowed me to be myself and what have I become? A monster? A criminal? A hunteress? You made me become a mother and you made me who felt she belonged nowhere feel at home, feel at peace. I miss you more than anything, and I will protect what you have left in this world
1. Sadness and other things

"I still remember the day when I first saw her." she started sitting close to a cliff with vegetation all around her. In front of her was a single slab of stone, finely crafted and branded with an insignia that was far to familiar and brought back far to many memories. Instead she choose to close her eyes and let her inner mind wander back many years in the past.

"Do you remember the day when we got Yang? I do. I can still see Taiyang's face every time I remember that day." a soft chuckle came from her lips "It was strange, I actually wanted her to have your hair, not that brutes but you know how times were that day. I never wanted to give birth or have children…but somehow you managed to make me do. The way you talked and how happy you got when it was announced, it was infectious. It made me want to have the one thing I knew I didn't deserve."

A gust of wind rustled her hair, the leafs and she could feel and see in her mind white rose petals falling and caressing her face. A small smile made it to her face and she let herself fall onto her back with outstretched legs, imagining a familiar lap greeting her head.

"Then we got the little rosebud. Or rather you got that little midget. I wasn't there to see Yang as she grew up after her second birthday. I…just left…yet you still found me…" she stopped as tears started to build under her eyes, quickly she brought her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose as hard as she could, feeling as if she didn't deserve it.

"Why didn't you drag me back?" she answered into the void. Yet she felt a soft caress on her head. She knew it was in her head, just another hallucination brought up by her tormented mind. Yet she found solace in it and with it peace.

"I asked you many times. Every time you found me…You said nothing and only showed me pictures you took with them. Yang's third birthday. The one where Qrow nearly got roasted…the day Yang's semblance manifested for the first…I regretted, but you had none of that and told me to smile, to be happy that the little fire dragon was growing up strong and responsible." a light chuckle broke through her throat "I took it as if you told me I wasn't. I still remember how we just laid next to each other after I told you that. Nearly a year later you just showed up again, I even tried to not be found but you still did.

"You showed me the pictures of the little rosebud. I had to restrain myself from gushing. She was everything you and nothing like me and I couldn't be happier. But I couldn't be sadder either. Because for little rosebud to exist must have meant that you had found another. And yet you still managed to proof me wrong, reassuring me that it wasn't what it looked like. I didn't understand, but you made me." a small blush and smirk formed on her lips at the memories.

Then she stopped, trying desperately to stop herself from crying. "Then you died." she failed. Tears were streaming down her face and a single audible sob filled the void.

She cried.

Yet the feeling of that soft caress wouldn't leave her.

Wouldn't let her fall.

Even if she wanted to, it wouldn't let her.

She sat up again, facing the grave this time and took deep breaths.

"I saw them." she started wiping the tears away "Someone must have talked about you or me or something, but for whatever reason Yang and the little rosebud were on their way to our old hut. You remember? The one where we stayed until…" she stopped grabbing her hand tightly, a desperate attempt to calm herself down "…until _that._ Who knows who told her but she was walking with the little one in a cart towards the house. I didn't get it but out of fear and idiocy I called Qrow. I knew that after that he wouldn't leave me alone, but their lives were in danger…I- I just couldn't let something happen to them…not when they couldn't protect themselves."

A gust of wind dried whatever was left of her tears away, warming her and making her aware of the dangers that still lurked within the forest behind her. Something she shouldn't need to bother with but was thankful none the less.

"After they had returned home, I sneaked into the house." she confessed standing up to face the approaching horrors "So badly did I want to see them, and as hard was it not to. They were sleeping together in one big bed huddled together while yang held onto the little rosebud tightly. I felt something in my chest, I didn't know what it was but it made me smile. I wanted to pat them, touch them, embrace them, but I couldn't bring myself to." her hand grabbed the hilt of her sword, while the dust chambers spun to the white ones.

"It was as hard not to touch them as it was not to have you by my side any longer. She looks so much like you" she unsheathe her sword slow careful precision "and I wanted nothing more then to tell her and Yang that everything will be alright. But I couldn't." a white blade graced the night, illuminating the dark while countless red orbs watched her through the woods.

She turned around around one last time, a smile she rarely gave these days on her lips "Know what? Our little rosebud saw me. As if she knew that I was there, just like you. She didn't ask anything however and only smiled…she has your smile…that beautiful little smile…the only thing she said was to come by again…" She wanted to turn away, let the Grimm know that they had no place on this hill, but "What is it with you and your child that make me so weak and so strong at the same time huh, Summer?"

It was as a soft and pressed onto her back, encouraging her to follow her path and yet a second holding her hand gently also telling her to return soon. A large smile, one she hadn't know she could make spread on her lips "I love you my love" she whispered rushing into the forest.

A ghostly figure stood at the top of the hill, right above the grave, just waving its hand before dissolving into countless white rose petals.

…––––––––––…

 _A/N Yea~h s~o this was a thing…my first entry into the RWBY fandom and I just had to start with a ship that doesn't have many supporters anyway…Ah who cares._

 _This story is just a collection of One-Shots, all taking place either right afterward or in the timeline of this one, maybe even a flashback._

 _Please be kind enough to review and give feedback, I always try to improve the way I characterize the people in my stories and since RWBY is filled with colorful characters I will attempt to find ways and reasons for why I think some things have happened._

 _See you next time._

 _Yours dear,_

 _Sha Yurigami_


	2. An end isn't always a new beginning

…––––––––––…

"Hey Summer? Could you explain to me what you saw in me? I asked you many times even before any of _that_ had happened but you never answered me truthfully." she was sitting in front of the grave again, this time a bone mask was laying in front of her "Always saying that I was a good person, that I had a beautiful smile, that I made you laugh even if I didn't make a joke -that last one hurt actually because that always happened and I really didn't want to remember that at all."

The forest was quiet, the season had changed and the creatures of nightmares disappeared into the void of nothingness. The same way they arrived into this world. But the only thing that didn't change was how clean and untouched the grave in front of her was.

"Say, do you remember the day we had asked Taiyang to be our donor? I do because you embarrassed the hell out of me. Heck you didn't even tell me that I was the one who had to give birth!" she raised a fist to make a point "First you come into our room, tie me to the bed and started what-ever-that-was and called me a pansy for not wanting to have children. You even went as far as making me scream that I would be the one who throw our first child into the world…Then again it was worth seeing Tai lose his shit and spit out his drink when we proposed that idea to him."

She looked into the distance, looking at their Alma matter at the horizon. "Do you-, did I-" she stuttered, unable to bring herself to say the words but she still did not wanting to ever stop "Our Rosebud grew up so well…"

She reminisced the way the wind felt when she had watched that little piece of heaven from afar. Close enough for her eyes to see but so far away for their children to ever notice. A tear threatened to fall from her eyelids but she didn't brush it away like usual.

"Tai, he-… he is doing his best to be there for them. He tried to be the best for you too. Qrow too." she inhaled and exhaled, a gentle breeze caressing her cheek, taking the tear with it "He has been a splendid father after I had Qrow give him a beating for ignoring his nieces…maybe daught- Okay It is still strange to say that. Sure he had the right to be called Yang's father but-…" she stopped, tears falling again.

"Why? It is always the same thing that goes through my mind and my heart can't seem to calm down enough for me to think about it at all!" the ground beneath her shook slightly. She had punched it too hard and immediately apologized for loosing her temper like that again.

"Yang, she, turned out just like me. Impulsive, angry and ready to throw a punch at anyone who bullied their little sibling. How did you manage to raise her? I wouldn't have been able to hold her like you do. I couldn't return there all triumphant and embrace my children as tightly as possible only to shatter their reality when I leave again." she sighed "Why did you have to find me? Why was it so important for me to be there for them? Why was I unable to say anything when I looked into our little rosebuds eyes. Those eyes. Those beautiful silver eyes so much like yours."

She got up from her position on the ground, turning her back to the grave "I went back." she admitted slumping her shoulder in defeat "I wanted to see her again and wanted to run my hand through Yang's hair like we used to. I wanted to tell Tai to man up and take better care of my children or he would get some but I couldn't."

A warm gust tickled her ears as if telling her to stop listening and just tell her tale "I only watched them play today. Yang was pulling our rosebud on a cart, being a better big sis than I could have ever been. They grew so much in the time I hadn't seen them…" she clutched at her right hand again, wanting to cut off the entire blood but a curtain of snowflakes threw her off to the ground.

"If you really feel that way, the least you could do is go back to them." she knew that voice, she had known it even before it sounded all grown up and adult. The smell of alcohol was new. She looked into his eyes, saw the tired expression he wore while his cape tattered and bruised moved in the wind.

"You look like sh*t." she said getting up from her place on the ground, noticing that the form she left on the snow was that of an angel _-Snow_ _Angel?_ _Seriously?_ she thought- before her eyes wondered towards her twin.

"Look who's talking." he countered taking a flask from his chest pocket "I had been looking for you for close to half a year and where do I find you, the first place I wanted to look at but didn't."

"Since when?"

"What? The drinking?" a groan escaped his throat "You weren't the only one who was devastated by what happened to her" he said looking at the grave with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Do you have everything." she asked already walking towards him.

"So you won't answer my question, is that right?" she nodded "Great…What did I do to deserve a big sis like you." he muttered under his breath before he felt a hand on his chest. He paled instantly, looking up quickly but only to see the cruel smile on his sisters lips before she twisted his nipple.

The scream he let out was loud enough to scare anything within a ten miles radius.

As they left, she could have sworn that she heard a soft laugh in her ears, but that couldn't be…right?

 _A/N_ Thank you for the reviews XD


	3. Cat Cradle

"Today I meet an interesting little girl." the seasons changed once more, the grave however was as untouched as it was the last time she visited. It was strange to return to this place. Sometimes she just sat here without doing anything. Other times she watches how Tai and their little Rosebud came to pay their respects. Never Yang though.

"Do you remember the White Fang? Yep that ragtag group of peace activists. They became quiet violent in the years after your… _that_. In fact some of them already started acting like little terrorists." she smirked "Guess what, there was a young cat Faunus among them. Black hair just like me but amber eyes and a mean bite if you look at her funny. She must be around Yang's age…and I saw no relatives whatsoever among their ranks. So young and already in the front lines of a slowly degrading activist group."

When she looked up ahead she saw the moon, broken and yet so beautiful and shining. That light illuminated the darkness all around them. She remembered a legend Ozpin told her before she left. One where it was said that man had lived on the moon and a rabbit on remnant. Why a rabbit of all things she couldn't understand but she let it slip away since that legend was just that.

A legend.

"You know, it's your fault I became like this" she said after her moon gazing turned boring and she was left alone in front of a gravestone "I mean, remember the old days? I was wild and unchained and all it took to tame me and make a all sentimental and…"She couldn't bring herself to say it, those words were not meant to be said, not in front of _her_ "It was you and your stupid happy grin, and the ways your eyes always shone with so much heart and light. How come you choose me?"

A sharp wind danced through the woods rustling her hair. She only smiled at it "Yeah, yeah, no questioning my team leader, right? Then please let me continue." silence "Good. When I went to Atlas last week, I kept an eye out for the Fangs, heck even _those_ guys while we are at it. Wanna know what I saw. The working conditions for Faunus' and some human workers as well. Dunno how you got along with that Schnee brat when he was at Beacon, maybe it was his girlfriend turned wife who made him all docile."

She chuckled "Yep, heard right. That girl actually married him. I couldn't believe it either, they were such a misfit when I first saw them and not to mention his manners around our friends. You know, maybe we should have taught him a lesson when we had the chance…then maybe a little girl like that cat Faunus wouldn't have had to see a man die in front of her."

She frowned, lowering her head to touch the ground with her forehead "You heard right, I broke the promise we made back then. I know you won't forgive me but…" she sighed lifting her head once she felt a warm breeze tickle her ear.

"It was a relatively peaceful rally. The activist were holding up their placates demanding more rights and all that. Then some guy from the military guy with silver hair showed up with his page, and you'd never guess who'd it be: James Ironwood. Yep, Mister the people are more important than anything else. All prim and proper, just the way me and Qrow enjoyed making fun of him. Then that geezer said something about keeping the peace inside the city and showing _those_ animals where they belong or some bull crap. You should have seen James' face when he heard that, one of the few guys from Atlas that aren't stuck up on old conflicts I swear, but that look of shock only meant one thing: Military intervention. And that was my cue to intervene."

"You know, sometimes I don't get humans. They fear anything that isn't like them and when someone wants something simple and peaceful from them they go and try some bull crap." she sighed, leaning down to take the mask off the ground "From what I could gather ,after the army basically attempted to make a massacre, was that the Schnee family wanted to test a new weapon and another Faunus rally ending in violence wouldn't look strange in Atlas of all things. Too bad that there were also children.

"That little cat Faunus ran away from the crowd when she saw guns pointed at the people, she and most of the others apparently had a bad feeling about this" she placed the mask on her lap, caressing the rough surface "Before those a**holes could do something however, a group in Grim masks showed up…and what once was a peaceful activist group created a pretty vicious militia who saved most of the people.

"Well, _most._ I don't know why I kept my eyes on that girl for so long. Maybe I saw Yang in her, since they were around the same age, or it could have been pity. Who knows, I certainly didn't. That girl was chased through the streets. Three guys at that. Can you imagine? Of course I saved her once she ran to a place where people wouldn't notice me and kicked those guys butts. Pity that some masked red head showed up and killed one of those guys."

She stopped. Her hand tightened around the mask and she had to resist grinding her teeth together. A single white rose petal fell onto her head. A touch so soft she could have sworn that it was all in her head. It was something that made her relax and finish her story.

"I was pissed. You know how scary that can be and I am more than sure that the girl was traumatized at seeing me loose control like that. But guess what, there was actually someone who could fight back when I went berserk…" she opened her eyes, briefly wondering if the white figure in front of her was an illusion brought forth from her sadness or just a play of light. She decided it was the later and continued.

"That Bull Faunus, he wore a white Grimm mask that covered half his face but that didn't stop him from countering my strikes every time I wanted to shut him up. He was strong I tell you and I fear that he will probably be in the center of a large storm in a few years. When that time comes…I don't know."

Not sure how to finish her story she got up from the ground, dusted her skirt and placed kiss onto the grave stone.

"Sorry, I don't really know how to say goodbyes these days, maybe I'm just worried, or I might be sick. Or…the eyes, from that girl I mean…she had looked at me with awe and, I don't know how to deal with that."

Once she finished her confession she back away from the grave. This time her gaze lingered onto it for as long as she could before she disappeared into the night.


	4. Pain Pain Fly Away

She had to wait this time, her back resting against a tree trunk while the mask she wore hid most of her face. If she showed it she feared that her smile was too big and bright.

A little girl who really shouldn't be here sat in front of the grave and told it all about her life. Her friends, as few as there are, her father who really needed to get his act together and Yang. She told the grave all about her big sister and how she wants to become as strong as her. The little girl showed off her meager abs and arm muscles, realized however that they weren't that impressive to begin with.

"Guess I'll never be as strong as Yang…or you…" the girl muttered, playing around with her black hair, a particular red strand to be exact "Say mum, I miss you…Yang and dad miss you too. And maybe _she_ as well…Mum…?" tears fell from her eyes, while her cheeks reddened and puffed. She rested her face against her knees while her tears moistened the fabric of her red and black dress.

The girl cried for a good five minutes, muttering some things one wouldn't hear even if they stood next to her. She felt tempted to let her mask fall to the ground and embrace the girl but she couldn't bring herself to. She feared. But she couldn't leave the little one all on her own in these dangerous woods, especially since the both of them filled the air with too much negativity.

A muffled sob entered her ears. Something inside of her clicked and she felt compelled to punch something, anything to make that girl happy and smile again. In her anger she hadn't noticed that her hands had grabbed the bark too tightly and snapped the stump nearly in two.

She might not have noticed.

But the girl did.

"Who is there?" the girl asked and she had to do everything in her power to calm herself down. Opting to punch herself in the gut she tried sound as unsuspecting as possible even if the little girl got up from her place on the ground and approached her.

"I warn you, I can do Kung Fu! And I have a combat Corgi! Zwei the most powerful and noble Corgi of all!"

Okay scratch that, she had to laugh at that, startling not only herself but the girl as well who nearly jumped off the cliff when she had heard the laughter. Maybe, just maybe the girl wouldn't remember her. Maybe she would think that a Grimm had appeared and that she needed to run away as fast as possible but for some strange reason she couldn't bring herself to just show herself with the mask.

She left it hanging on a branch, together with her katana, slowly revealing herself from the woods.

"What happened to Eins, the noble Corgi of myths and Legends?" she asked nearly laughing again as she watched the girl look at her with wide eyes. Those Silver pools looked her up and down, absorbing every fiber of her being as if she was some form of art.

Then the girl stopped and giggled.

It was such a pure and honest laugh, full of all the things she had to let go once she became an adult. Yet this little rosebud shared it with her and even stepped closer despite being strangers to each other.

"Eins is Zwei's mama." the little rosebud said, presenting her hand for a shake while smiling brightly at seeing her. She couldn't refuse those eyes, never could, never will, and gave her hand after lowering herself to be on eye level.

"I am Ruby. Who are you?" the little rosebud said, smiling so innocently. Her body shook a little, unsure, uncertain and hurt -hurt that she knew that she deserved for what she had done- but she still managed to surprise herself by eagerly grabbing the little rosebud's hand.

"I'm an old friend of your mama," she berated herself for going with that instead of _her_ name but what had to be done, had to be done "I wanted to pay my respects to her before I travel farther again."

"Oh" the rosebud looked sad before she smiled and let go of her hand "Then I'll make place for you, mama wants to speak with you too, I think"

She chuckled at the childish innocence, but her heart hurt from the way everything about this child reminded her. The same hair color, the same hair cut and the same silver eyes which only reflected honesty and unclouded judgment. For a good ten seconds she only stared at the girl before she noticed the blush on that cute little face. Before she could stop herself, she took those little cheeks and caressed them.

"You are so much like your mama," she whispered and the girl looked at her in wonder and amazement "But its okay, I believe she wants to hare more from her little rosebud than from this cranky old babayaga."

The girl looked puzzled "What's a babayaga?"

"Oh, just a witch that lives in dark and gloomy forests, like that one" motioning to her back "who capture and eat little girls who don't know when to go home." a large smile spread on her face when she saw the look of terror on the rosebuds face, nearly falling over from laughing when the girl squirmed out of her grasps and ran to the woods screaming "I'll go home! I'll go home!"

She looked with a satisfied smile when she saw the child leave "Really, so much like you Summer." she remembered the way Summer reacted when she told her that tale. She had been laughing like crazy that day. She wanted to say her final good byes to the grave before she went.

"Are you going to visit again."

She stopped in her tracks, slowly turning to the origin of the voice.

The little rosebud had come back, looking at her with curiosity. Unintentionally she began to smile mouthing a "Yes" before the girl smiled back and probably ran home.

A drop of water ran down her face, moving around her smile and wiped away by a soft gust.

"Guess I don't need to say anything." she whispered feeling a ghostly embrace around her shoulder and the faintest hint of a kiss on her head "I'll protect them, somehow. I promise" she mouthed before she left again.


	5. Good old times

"Remember Initiation? It has been nearly two decades since then, heck Tai looks more and more like an old man now. I saw him walk Ruby and Yang to the airship the day before yesterday. Gosh we are old. To think that our little Rosebud and Firedragon are now old enough to go to Beacon…Wait a second…No! It isn't! Ruby is only fifteen! Gosh Ozpin, that damn schemer!" she screamed and slashed around with her sword.

Her eyes returned to the gravestone once her anger cooled down.

"Sorry about that. Lately I can't help but lash out at everything…seeing you is the only thing that keeps me somewhat sane." she sat down in front of the grave again, a smile on her face as wide and toothy as the ones Ruby gave her so many years ago.

"Where was I? Right, initiation. Do you remember how you felt when Ozpin told us that we were catapulted into Forever Falls? I saw your big wide grin and thought that it was going to be a pain if you and me ended up as partners, especially how just the other day you tackled me to the ground with my sword falling right next to our heads." She chuckled at the memory.

"That same big ol' smiled was right on our their faces, both Ruby and Yang. You were always the better mother and I bet they got most of their act from you. I also saw Professor Arc's only son too, probably didn't have a clue since he was trying to ask Ozpin everything that he should have known had he taken the formal test, before he was shot right into the forest with everyone else." her katana laid in front of her, but she never looked at the blade but the little scorch mark on the green dust blade "The orphans I told you about, Ren and Nora, they were there as well. Nora basically talked Ren's ears of with how fast and much she said and the Nikos' kid was there too.

"You know the one I said I bet money on when me and Qrow watched that tournament. Yep, the one with that freakish level of Aura control and the magnetic Semblance. Girl was eying that Arc boy a little too much to my liking but I can say nothing against that." she stopped and contemplated whether or not to say it "Weiss Schnee" a name she hadn't thought much about in the past, heck she actually still tried to shove aside those memories…but she had to say it. She had pledged on it after all.

"Weiss, the Schnee's youngest heiress since the first generation and probably the kid with the most difficult personality to adapt to if she ever became a team leader. Sounds familiar right? I couldn't help but be at least happy that stuck-up-mister-f*ck-up -And no I am not apologizing for that one, you know how much effort I put into sabotaging the White Fang and the SDC from killing each other right?- well at least he let her go to Beacon. It probably took my blade nearly cutting off his crown jewels to convince him but hey, at least the girl can now relax and enjoy her youth, right?" a familiar wind tickled her neck.

"Thought so." she whispered with a fond smile on her lips "There was also someone I hadn't expected to see any time soon. A girl with black hair and yellow eyes. You remember, right? The little girl I attempted to save? Apparently she tried to emulate my style at the time and even got herself a katana, nin-ken hybrid with guns…seriously, what is with you weapon nuts that you always add guns to your beautiful weapons? Mine at least doesn't shoot the blade…and you made it so it's special…Then again it's bad enough that our little Rosebud's got a scythe-sniper rifle hybrid and Yang her shotgun gloves." she sighed at the images she had seen already remembering how her brother and Summer were playing around with their weapons, one time going as far as nearly blowing up their room back then.

A gentle gust of wind caressed her skin, itching her to continue.

And she did.

"Right, after they were shot into the forest, some who intentionally tried to get further ahead then others -You know that I mean Yang, right? Our little troublemaker doesn't care about her own safety or that of others…well at least she cares for Ruby's so that's a plus…instead she catapulted herself farther by using the rebound of her gloves. Ruby on the other hand just charged into the forest at full speed, just like a certain someone, killing a bird on the way and screaming "NO, Birdie!" which made me laugh soo~ hard that I nearly missed what happened next. The kids were told to find a partner and our rosebud had nothing better to do than chant that she got to find Yang…" she stopped her smile for a moment, wondering how it happened that their daughter ended up that way "then she nearly ran over non other than Miss Weiss Schnee.

"Guess what happened next. The little heiress just left her standing there, no words, no action, she just left her there…only to come back later once she saw who hung from a tree -It was the Arc boy by the way and I literally mean that he was hanging from a tree, with a spear even- and dragged the little rosebud by her cloak."

She laughed softly "Sounds familiar doesn't it? She truly is your daughter, heck she even screamed the same "You came ba~ck!" as you and it was hilarious! I can totally see Weiss getting annoyed by Ruby from beginning to end from this point of time to the future…Just like you and me." her tone at the end turned somber. A faint and gentle smile playing on her lips as she remembered their first meeting and the first words they said to each other.

"Then again Ruby kind of…exploded in front of her the day before so I kind of understand how they might have…problems at the start of their relationship." she whispered as if hiding the fact from curious ears.

"What then?" she pondered for a second, feeling the wind rill up her hair "Hey cut it out!" she screamed with a smile "So~ Yang ended up with that little cat as her partner, Nikos kid adopted Arc boy and Nora basically dragged Ren on top of an Ursa to the ruins while Ruby and Weiss were hanging around on a big Nevermore…that one was probably our fault since we didn't kill it immediately back then…What else? Right, apparently Ozpin never told them to ignore bigger foes and just do their thing."

She snipped her fingers "Oh, right. Sorry for bothering you. I really didn't want to but you know how it is…" her eyes went away from the grave, a sad smiled on her face while the wind tried to tickle her ear.

Closing her eyes once more, she leaned back and let herself fall. That familiar feeling on the back of her head already overtook everything of herself. A smile formed on her lips. One she hadn't done since she began wandering the world. A gentle caress, a soft humming and that sweet mouth kissing her forehead. She didn't dare open her eyes again, feared for it to disappear just like it did everyday.

"Ruby became a team leader…heck the team was named after her…Am- Am I even allowed to worry? Do I even deserve to feel this proud? Can…can I…"

Just like a dream, dreamed many times before, a warm embrace with with love and the lips of someone who wasn't there anymore laid upon her lips.

She allowed herself to wail and stay in a ghostly embrace she knew she didn't deserve.


	6. Promises are kept until the day you die

…––––––––––…

"Summer, I know I said this before but believe me when I say I did not intend to kidnap that girl…or her sister…Really believe me!" she bowed in front of the grave, her knees dug into the ground and she inwardly started to dig into the ground with her hands while her face screamed into the earth beneath her.

When she felt that familiar wind tickle her face she knew she had been allowed to explain, so she did.

"Okay, let me start from the beginning."

…––––––––––…

 _I was in Atlas for some grant ceremony -you know the Atlisians, big, fancy, and pompous are the only words you could describe their celebrations as, although you would have liked watching the fireworks with the kids- and I was tasked monitoring the festivities and_ _ **retrieve**_ _a certain artifact that was to be shown at some point during the night._

 _Atlas is truly a remarkably bland city. It was so grand that you could smell the snobs gathering all around the city from miles away. And I actually began to miss my stay in the forest, heck even the Grimm were too afraid to get closer to me since they could feel my presence…and I missed you…_

 _Because of that my state of mind wasn't the sanest and they city with its folks did nothing to ease my mind at all. Heck I was just walking through a backwater street to avoid the crowd that was hording at the center of this whole mess when it happened._

 _I saw a little girl with white hair dressed in a white dress being dragged around by a dude in dark clothing. Out of curiosity and because I wanted to beat someone up I followed them. Only to see three more people come out of the woodwork -It is just a saying so don't interrupt me again- and I got suspicious._

 _Sure they could have been the girls bodyguards but that wouldn't explain why she cried or why the men didn't give a damn about her. I wanted to watch them some more and see where they were taking the girl. What I noticed however was that these guys didn't carry themselves like thugs. More like militia and that just couldn't end well._

 _So after I followed them for a good half 'n' hour we had arrived at an empty warehouse with its doors wide open. Since I didn't want to be discovered I hid myself on top of the storage where rarely anybody would look up to and watched how another girl, a little older than the first, appeared with something in her hands._

" _Let her go" she had said but the men only hit her, much to the smaller ones dismay, and took whatever was in her hand…on closer inspection I realized, that was my target. You have no idea how happy I felt when that happened. Not only could I safe children who were around our kids age, kick some baddies butt but also could finish my stupid job and be with you here for an entire day!_

 _Okay please ignore what I just said and focus on how me rescuing little girls turned into a frigging kidnapping._

 _So~ I made a mistake. Got the item, got the girls -though both of them were scared out of their wits when they had seen me and my little mask here but the older one at least glared at me…then she had to show me her badge…Yeah, turns out the older runt was already with the military…_

 _I don't need to tell you that I accidentally walked into a training simulation of the Atleasian Military…which meant that James was probably watching and I just interrupted top secret training which meant I either had to run away as fast as I frigging could or get captured._

 _Per pure instinct -I swear- I grabbed both girls around their waists and made a run for it…Yeah not one of my better ideas, bu at least I got away pretty easily and got the girls to at lest calm down. Okay, one of them. The younger one. The older one however made it her mission to call me as many names as possible and even tried to kick me in the groin…as if she thought I was a man…_

 _Sum, I can feel you laugh at me. Please stop._

 _Long story short I took the kids, asked them where their parents were and such but the moment I mentioned their parents the younger one started to cry. Heck I couldn't help but stop my running and at least try to comfort her. Had it not been for the older one who somehow got a dagger out -seriously I didn't see anywhere on her tiny body where she could've hid it- and tried to stab me. I grabbed her by the arm and held her a good distance from me while I patted the smaller one._

" _Can't you see that you make everything worse, Miss-" the older one screamed at me after she noticed that I wasn't going to harm them. She also dropped her dagger so props to her, though I won't give her the benefit of a doubt and tied her hands up by one of those fancy ribbons I saw a few days ago._

" _-Branwen-" I said out of habit and to my horror. I made a frigging beginners mistake and only hoped that the girls would think of it like a codename._

" _I'm Weiss." the younger one said when she saw my exchange with her sister. Weiss immediately regretted talking though when her older sister looked at her with a stern face. I pinched the grumpy's nose and laughed at her snorting for me to stop this act this instance. Little Weiss however didn't say anything and just watched me humor her older sister._

" _Leave Winter alone." the pipsqueak screamed coming at me with her tiny fists in an attempt to make me stop bullying her sister. I had to laugh a little since that had reminded me of me and Qrow when we were younger. For all his boasting around that he was the older twin by a second, he acted more like a little brother all the time than not._

 _I smiled, let go of Winter and caught her tiny fists in my hands gently. They were so soft, so pure and so weak that I wasn't sure how to feel. I wondered if our little Rosebud's and Yang's hands felt like this…or maybe it felt like this because this girl was anything but well nuritshed._

 _Also, I might have accidentally said "You'll need to grow a few more muscles before you can take on a huntress like me." I mean common! That was totally something Qrow would have said and I would have made an awesome pun too…Gosh I had wasted a frigging golden chance to make a pun and I didn't take it?!_

 _In my defense, I couldn't really make one when all those Prototype Robots from Ironwoods Ironclods came to intercept me. Sure I didn't want to leave the kids on a rooftop but I also didn't want to be captured and interrogated. So I let a red sword slot bind with the hilt and opened a portal just beneath my feet._

 _I waved a last goodby to the kids, noticing each one giving opposite reactions to me leaving and disappeared from their life. Little Weiss looked at me with an expression I only saw when Yang was on her own…little fella didn't want to be alone and well it was fun to look after childr- Wait that 's totally your fault my dear!_

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"Well, that's about all I am going to say" she said placing a white rose in front of the grave "Maybe when the weather calmed down around Atlas and the Schnee's stop sending assassins after me then I might get to tell you more about my adventures in the snowy mountains…and kidnapping Weiss again…"

She paused. A warm smile formed on her face as she felt a warm gust below her chin. It told her that she didn't have to tell all of it now. The grave wasn't going to run away from her and she knew when and how to get here without any witness.

"See you soon, Milady," she joked before leaving with her mask on. This time nearly seeing the ghostly hand urging her forward to be without any doubt in her heart.

…––––––––––…

 _A/N: Yes I noticed, heck I was playing around with that idea in my head but didn't think that I could integrate it into this story…What was meant to be a Raven introspective ended up becoming a journey of redemption and failure…and forgiveness._

 _See you next time and R &R_

 _Also be sure to pump this story into the top hundred most followed stories on ff . Net! Jokes aside just read and enjoy whatever you might find in this story._


	7. Growth can go both ways

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"I got fat." silence greeted her this time, until she heard a flabbergasted gasp from the woods "Shit I meant I got caught." she corrected herself not sure how or why she ended up in this situation.

"No swearing, you have to put a lien into the swear glass." the soft voice from the woods lectured already making her regret promising to meet at least one more time. She really only wanted to spent time at the grave and talk for maybe plus minus ten minutes…or three hours, she wasn't that sure how long she stayed at this place and neither did she care.

"I don't have a single lien on me. Sorry little rosebud." she said while putting her hands into the air in defeat. Heck, she would be lying tough if she wasn't going to enjoy herself.

"Not little Rosebud! It's Ruby. R.U.B.Y! Ruby. Now say it with me!" the little rosebud demanded while she came out of the woodwork with an accusing finger pointed at her.

A warm smile made it onto her face which she forced into a frown or she wasn't going to part from this little treasure for the rest of her life. Not that she intended to or anything…right?

"Oh, great Lady Ruby Rose, please forgive this humble Servant of yours and spare her the humiliation of cowering on the ground with you riding on my back."

She heard the child hum in thought, probably wondering what she needed to do with a finger touching her cheek. A gesture she knew _her_ daughter was going to do no matter what. And when she felt a weight on her shoulder she knew what the little rosebud had planned.

"You're not a horse, and I am no lady! I am going to be a knight of justice!" the little one announced balancing on her shoulders while striking a pose.

"I didn't hear you climbing up on me." she said, knowing just how her daughter was going to tick her off.

"I'm really fast." the little one said hugging her head. She didn't know what to make of it and the blush spreading on her cheeks was helping her in any way "And you're really warm. Just like Yang!"

Something hit her side.

Something painful.

Something intangible.

Something that only existed in her imagination.

It was guilt.

"I'm just a natural heater, little Rose." she said the last part in a whisper, but felt two tiny hands covering her eyes.

"Not little Rose…little Ruby…" the child whispered and she had to do everything in her might to hear that single sob on her back. Without thinking she threw the girl up from her back, spun around and embraced t _heir_ child as tightly as possible before Ruby could fall to the ground.

The little Rosebud didn't know why she was hugged. She knew however that her child needed this… and the guilt of leaving out her other daughter was leaving her torn apart. Why couldn't she give them both what they needed more than anything else? Why couldn't she embrace her daughters without feeling like a damn piece of broken glass.

Why was she feeling like she didn't deserve being with them every time she looked and watched over them.

She oversaw so many things in the past few years. Experienced so much but yet accomplished so little. And the only thing she could do was watch… and hug this child so precious to her with as much love as she could, letting her tears fall as well.

"I miss her too" she whispered soothing the now trembling girl. The little Rosebud eventually returned the embrace, sobbing and crying.

They stood like that. Her actually crying more than the child in her arms. The wind touched each of their heads, rustling their hair and letting it flow in the air. White petals landed on her shoulder before disappearing and leaving dark spots where they landed.

"Hey," she heard but didn't open her eyes. To absorbed in letting her pain flow out of her eyes. To occupied with her grief that she hadn't noticed a little hand reach up to her head. When she felt a soft touch on her cheek she opened her eyes and saw a beaming Rose look up at her. Her eyes opened wide as images of Summer and milk and cookies flooded her mind before she was reminded of the more childish features of the face in front of her.

"Hey," she greeted back, receiving a pat on her cheeks and cheeky little fingers grabbing each. Too late did she recognize this attack pattern and immediately regretted letting this little devil into her arms when she felt each pulled outwards. Tempted to let the kid fall to the ground she however decided to tickle the little Rosebud into kingdom come!

Alas the child pulled her cheeks up to make her do an awkward smile.

"Mama said you shouldn't cry"

Her eyes widened when she heard those words. Did Ruby know who she was? Was her cover already blown to smithereens.

"Mama said she doesn't like people being sad without her" she raised an eyebrow at those words making the child realize what she said "I mean…she said…Mama doesn't want anybody to be sad." she whispered.

Something within her beat faster. Something she didn't know she had any longer, but was constantly reminded of having. Especially with such a sweet and cute and cuddly little Rose in her arms.

"Tell you what" she started kissing the child's forehead before letting her down "You're just like you mother."

The little Rosebud out of embarrassment turned red from top to bottom, even going as far as to form incoherent words that made absolutely no sense in context. Out of goodwill she patted the child's head, gently running her fingers through those soft strands, neat and black with a hint of black at the tips…just like she remembered it.

"Isn't about time you return? You've watched me for a good half 'n' hour and I don't want Tai or Yang to worry about you." she said with a smile lowering herself to be on eye level. Ruby however looked at her with a confused expression, tilting her head slightly while one of her eyes closed a little.

"Did you…just make a pun?" she asked unsure if she had asked it correctly.

"Nope." she answered, popping the 'p', the girl looked up at her, skepticism still on her face. She patted the little rosebud's head affectionately, until she heard a familiar voice.

"Ruby? What are you doing here alone."

"Uncle Qrow!" the child screamed running out of her grasps to meet her uncle. She didn't dare look over her shoulder. Heck she already knew what was waiting for her once she turned her head and internally screamed at the heavens for forsaking her.

"Druncle, why are you smiling like that?" the child asked with a **scared** voice. Despite her better judgment she immediately turned around -nobody dared make her child scared of anything!- coming face to face with the biggest most evil version of her brother she had ever seen. Heck he resembled those evil clowns from those horror movies nowadays!

"I'm not going to live this down, ain't I?" she asked as he nodded with that damn creepy grin. She flashed a smile of her own before running towards the cliff. Qrow's eyes shut open and his visage stopped as he looked after his sibling.

"Coward!" he screamed as he watched her jump off the cliff.

The wind was rustling her hair, reprimanding her but let her go. She lifted her katana, red blade, slashing the air in front of her and disappearing into her portal. For a moment thought she had heard a "Come back again" thrown after her, but that couldn't be.

She was a coward after all.

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 _A/N: Feedback is still welcome._


	8. Weissicles are sticky

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"So last time I told you that I was going to tell you about my adventures in Atlas…Where to start…" she pondered a little, tapping her finger against her chin, the wind on cue tousled her hair "Okay, got it, I know that you know that I'm trying to avoid talking about it, but, well…I kidnapped a Schnee again!"

She cowered on the ground bowing and apologizing once again for her actions while a young white haired girl watched from the distance.

The wind was picking up, rustling the leafs all around them. A little rain cloud formed over her head and started to pour ice onto her cowering form. The child watched in fascination how the weather seemingly acted on its own around her kidnapper.

"Hey! This time it wasn't entirely my fault!" thunder growled inside of the cloud "Okay, maybe it was my fault that a steel pillar came off from a construction side -to my defense the White Fang was there as well- and maybe I shouldn't have fought against nine assassins on my own while trying to safe as many Faunus _and_ human workers from a landslide but dammit it all and throw in the dearly beloved Schnee family showing off their little Ice queen-"

"Hey!"

"No offense but the situation surely wasn't in either of our favors and since you are the Ice King's child you automatically become an Ice Queen faster than I can say the phrase Supercalifragilisticexpialogetic."

"Superc-?"

"Don't try to pronounce that, its a tongue twister through and through Weissicle." the child scoffed at her words and she had to hold back a large grin from forming on her face.

"Could you stop calling me that?" the child complained looking away from the grave.

"What? By your name? Should I call you Lady Snow instead?" she asked making the child grumble something that was probably meant to be an insult. The child however instead of going through with it took a few steps back and went to a nearby stump, letting her head hang.

The wind violently rustled her hair and hail started to fall from the mini cloud above her head. She probably should go to the girl and talk to her. So she did, feeling an additional shove from the cloud behind her. Has the weather become sentient? Or was _she_ playing a new trick in her books.

"Hey, I am sorry kiddo." she said, kneeling down to meet the child's sad eyes. The moment she had become aware that the child was crying she immediately hugged her. She rubbed the little Schnee's head and back up and down, trying to calm the child that barely reached her hips. She wondered why this girl was crying, already understanding that it wasn't that easy, that it wasn't something you should talk to a stranger with.

"I know you don't know me and that you are scared. I know that many bad things were happening lately and that someone from your family won't be there anymore. But - at least…" she paused noticing that the child stopped crying and listened to her "At least try to live for your Mama."

She had whispered the last part, already feeling nauseous at her own words. Was she even allowed to hold this child in mourning while her own children were right over there waiting to be showered with love again while both their mothers were away. Why had she brought this child here?

While she internally tried to figure out how she felt her arms tried to let the child go, trying to remember and trying to forget, but soft little hands clung to her. Confused by the sudden cuddliness she looked down onto the child again, only looking into blue, crying eyes look straight into her own. Right on cue a terrifying feeling gripped her guts. A feeling she was successful in suppressing…

Guilt.

A smiled made ways towards her face. If she was still able to feel this, then it meant she hadn't let go of _her._

Weiss was lifted from the ground, held her around her own waist and waited for her to do something. She was softly rocking the child and rubbed her back out of fear that the little heiress was going to cry again.

"Tell you what" she started trying to gauge the girl's feelings and, maybe, try to make amends for her mistakes "It's okay to cry."

"But papa always says-"

"You are not your father's child" the words escaped her mouth faster than she had time to think -sure she watched how she was going to sound but she'd be damned if she let this child become anything like her sister or father- "You are Weiss Schnee, the daughter of the most respectable woman I ever had the pleasure to meet. Nothing more. Nothing less."

Those pale blue orbs looked at her -she could feel the coldness, the pain and sorrow- but they shifted into a slightly lilac hue before returning to its original color. Arms tightened around her neck and she felt the sobs more than heard.

"Were you and Mama good friends." the child asked and she had to chuckle at the childish tone.

"She helped me out more than once…I might probably owe her even more than I could ever return."

"What do you mean?"

"I bet she's the one who helped _her_ get our daughter into the world." Weiss head shot up from her bosom looking directly into her eyes with an uncertain expression on her face. A large smile made its way onto her face when she saw how the child cocked her head to make heads and tails out of what she said.

"What do you mean?" the child asked but she only motioned for the grave behind her. The child's eyes opened wide but she probably didn't understand what she meant.

"That's my wife" she admitted, not sure where those words came from. The child right on cue groped her chest. She looked at Weiss with anger but quickly quelled it before the child could see her -No reason to disturb her more than she already was- But the child's eyes widened into saucers.

"But you're a girl!" the child exclaimed but she would have none of that.

"And?"

"But girls can't have babies, right? Papa said it isn't normal." That got her attention.

"First, I already said that your mama helped my wife, right?" the child nodded "so that means girls can have children okay?" Weiss nodded again "Great and second: Don't listen to your father for ever little thing. He's just jealous that he can't do what girls can."

The little heiress looked confused again but before the child could ask why her cheeks were getting red she instead winked.

"You can ask your father when you get my age." she said immediately attempting to push the responsibility to another father figure -she became quiet good at shoving her own insecurities elsewhere- and prayed for her sanity when she saw the child look at her with a blush. _Oh_ _boy_ , _here_ _it_ _comes_ she thought.

"Do you miss her?"

Although that question actually caught her off guard.

"Yes. Yes I do. Just like my little girls" she whispered carrying Weiss elsewhere, not looking back to the slab of stone resting at the cliff. She only noticed that she was crying when two tiny hands wiped away the tears.


	9. I am alive

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"I met her today…I still can't believe how much she's grown…and I still can't believe that I didn't stay with her." she stood in front of the gravestone once again. A ghostly hand gently stroking her cheek and wiping the tears before they fell from her eyes.

"Why did I leave? Didn't I promise to you that if I should meet Yang, that I wasn't allowed to leave her side?" she lifted her fist, wanting to hit herself so badly but another ghostly hand held it back.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning." she whispered, feeling _her_ lips touch hers. The sun was setting, clouds threatened to burst and let rain hail down towards the ground. Patch hasn't changed. In fact it never would.

She didn't either.

"I was keeping an eye on them. On team RWBY. Still can't believe that our little girl became a team leader, heck I still can't believe that the Branwen curse affected them that badly either. Sure it was understandable that me and Qrow would end up in your team but Ruby and Yang? They weren't even twins and they still choose to be near each other…" finally feeling at peace she let her katana drop gently onto the floor, before sitting down herself.

"There were in the outskirts of Vale, you know that old ruin city where people tried to colonize, they went there after Roman and Neo…had I know that those pipsqueaks were getting into more trouble than they could chew than I would've left them dead in that alley back then."the sensation of her cheeks getting pinched stopped her words, she truly wondered if she had become insane "Anyway, our little ones went there to investigate the White Fang.

"I knew of their plans to let Grimm into the city as a diversion for the _Queen_ ,even told Ozpin about it, but it didn't think our girls would pick up on it…at least partial…so they went with our good ol' friend Oobleck" she chuckled "Remember how much coffee he consumed, yeah he hasn't changed one bit and he kind of dragged them through the ruins with his philosophical questions on why Yang, Blake and Weiss do what they do…except Ruby…I kind of understand why. Besides killing as many Grimm as they could find, they even had to challenge their own inner demons, talk about tough lessons…

"Yang has become reckless. It was something I feared would happen sooner or later. I knew what needed to be done, I even knew what I needed to say, but no matter how I thought about it…I couldn't be there for them. And even when I decided to safe her-" the wind rustled her hair.

"Guess I didn't tell you. After they found the underground base -literally underground believe me- they started their assault on the White Fang. Those guys loaded a train with bombs onto the train cars…even got those damn Atlisean Knights from somewhere…The kids were lucky that Adam wasn't there -since he somehow found his way into Vale- otherwise the situation wouldn't have been so favorable. Heck, when they got onto the train all I could do was exterminate as many Grimm above ground as possible since I didn't want an indigestible amount of Grimm walking through the city-" the ghostly touched gently stroke her shoulder "Don't worry, I was fine. If it meant protecting our girls then I'd gladly die. Even took on a Goliath or two and won!"

A little cloud formed over her head, threatening to let rain fall. It took a few moments to realize that everything around her was brighter then her. A sigh escaped her lips when she saw the little familiar cloud, together with a light chuckle.

"Well long story short, the kids got onto the train and those maniacs actually started to blow up each of their cars after dropping them along the tunnel. Each explosion was large enough to blow up the ceiling and since the WF guys got to much negativity on their side Grimm started to drop in." she paused for a moment looking into the ever distant moon up above the clouds "Even I can't stop that many for too long…although something else distracted me…

"I felt Yang in danger. It was the same damn feeling I had when our little girls went and searched for me. Heck it was even worse since I knew that those guys in the train weren't just going to kill them. Anger clouded me and I ripped through the dimensions right when Yang was nearly stabbed by little Miss Neopolitan. Strawberry and Chocolate girl made a face as if she was about to scream -although she can't since she's mute and all- and immediately tried to get away from me. But the moment I saw Yang laying on the floor unconscious and helpless." heat rose from her body, while she was pretty sure her eyes turned blood red. The wind rustled the leafs all around her while anything that was alive ran for its life into the deepest parts of the forests.

It took a cold shower and snow from the little cloud to cool her down but she didn't mind since she also felt that familiar touch on her lips. When she finally calmed down enough she felt lips on her forehead and a smile gracing hers.

"Anyway, when Neo up and disappeared I got left behind with Yang, little fire dragon slowly woke up but I wasn't ready to see her again. Heck had I looked back into her eyes than I wouldn't be here and instead would embrace my children as tightly as possible…You wouldn't hold that against me, would you?" she asked innocently, not expecting anything as she closed her eyes.

 _I wouldn't_

Her eyes snapped open and she forced herself to look all around her. It had to be a trick. Someone was pulling a prank on her. That couldn't be right and she shouldn't be able to hear _her_ at all. It had to be but there _she_ was, mostly transparent and without a body, it was more exact to say that _she_ was made of a head and two hands cloaked by that familiar white cape.

Mouth opening and closing as if she saw a ghost -in fact she was but that shouldn't be mentioned now- the only thing she was willing to do or say or anything was jump up from her place on the ground into that familiar embrace.

Something changed that day.

It was wonderful.

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 _A/N: Yeah~ I have no excuse for this one…so please enjoy this jolly ride. Not many chapters to go since this wasn't meant to have this many XD_


	10. Fear and Loathing in Vacuo

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"Guess what? I am apparently the mascot for a tequila brand in Vacuo." She said while her eyes looked as dead as a fish's. Silence was the only reaction she got and she wasn't sure of it but…that slightly darkened spot on the gravestone? No it couldn't be…No way was that what she thought that it was. She slowly leaned forward, closer to the stone and took three careful sniffs.

No way. She thought at the first.

Seriously no way. Were her thoughts on the second.

"Who's the bastard that let that godawful beverage drop on you?!" she screamed at the third while the heat around her rose high enough that the grass below her knees wilted. She had to remind herself that if she turned up the heat than the alcohol would dry up faster, so she took tree careful strides away from the slab of stone with her wife's insignia on it and took ten very slow and very forceful breaths. Once she cooled down she took a flask of water from her belt and a handkerchief.

"Seriously! Get here and let me rip out your balls!" she screamed while she carefully rubbed the water onto the tissue and "lovingly" stroke anywhere where she suspected that damn tequila to have dropped on, silently grumbling about the universe doing this just to mess with her-

"KYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

And of course the universe decided to throw a curve ball into her guts. Heck, she knew that girly scream. It was unmistakable and the sole reason why that person never came on to her during their school years. It was the scream she heard when that idiot decided to play tag with a death stalker and a nevermore during initiation. Heck it was her and Summer's blackmail material every time that person got on their nerves.

That screaming girl being none other than -for-muscle!

"Quit screaming like a girl Taiyang!" she screamed turning around harshly while her ex-teammate held onto a bottle for dear life. Her left eye twitched when she saw the beverage instantly recognizing the drink that was the reason for her recent headaches. Pair that with the fact that her wife's grave stone smelled exactly like that monstrosity and that blond carrying it, could only mean one thing.

She unsheathed her blade, the dark red one for swift executions (normally reserved for scumbags who came on to her girl), her eyes flaring up the darkest they could while they watched Taiyang slowly pale from head to toe probably sobering up instantly.

"I-It's not like it loooooooooooooookkskssss!" the hulking blond screamed turning on the heel so fast that he could have been a ballerina in his previous life while running into the forest as fast as he could…which to her looked like he was running in slow motion.

He continued screaming like a girl the entire path down the slope constantly looking over his shoulders like a frightened bunny.

Until he tripped.

On her foot.

Because she knew where he was going to run to and opened a portal right there. Why she knew that he was going there? Because she waited and listened to his girly screams and therefore determined where he was going.

And he was an idiot.

"I give you three sentences to explain to me why my wife's gravestone smells like tequila and how you are going to repent for that." she said while stepping onto his head, pressing his face into the mud. Props to him for managing not to break the bottle though.

"No _I'm sorry for leaving just like that and letting my wife a crying mess had it not been for little Yang occupying her time!_ No _I'm sorry for letting me and Summer look after your daughters as if it wasn't your business?_ and no _How are you doing? I am fine. It was so good to see and feel your blade at my throat?!_ and best of all: No f*cking _Sorry for never showing up when my kids need me the most._ Classic Raven. Classic." the man muttered while his face was inching deeper and deeper into the ground due to the pressure her boot had on his head.

"Oh buhu. Is the bid dummy sad that he doesn't have anybody who plays with him? Maybe he shouldn't have let his friends daughters wander alone through a dark and scary forest?" he flinched visibly "So man up you big oaf and tell me what happened to Summer's gravestone."

Taiyang didn't move for a few moments, though she heard something akin to sobbing, before he lifted up the bottle and motioned for her boot still on his head. Deciding that she should at least listen to him before cutting off his crown jewels she stepped off him.

When he got up he showed her the front label. A picture of a dark haired woman -obviously drawn- with red eyes looking exactly like Raven on Team STRQ's team photo but holding the banner of the company -instead of her katana- and a sombrero atop her head.

She looked at the accursed object with so much disdain and hatred that she was sure that her aura was slowly burning the ground around her. Taiyang as if sensing her animosity knelt and bowed with his head hitting the ground so hard that she heard a thud.

"I-I wanted to show her." he whispered, his voice cracking at the end "at least, something that looked like you…I-I couldn't bear watch her sad every time we heard that you supposedly disappeared and appeared again. We never knew where and when you'd show up, heck Summer had a knack for finding you. Every. Damn. Time. But she still cried when the kids weren't around…she missed you. Missed your face, your smile. Sometimes she talked in her sleep, about the god ol' days of Team STRQ before we broke apart…" this time she heard the sob loud and clear.

"And I thought … Well, I don't know what I was thinking. I was drunk and sad and wanted to get away from everything and somehow I found myself in that liquor shop and saw that damn tequila bottle." she raised an eyebrow, tapping her foot on the ground "Long story short, I laughed myself silly when I saw it and -unintentionally- drank the whole thing while visiting her gravestone…I was talking to myself and imagined that Summer's ghost was laughing right along with me about that damn label. Heck I might have imagined her her asking for a cup."

Her eye twitched again.

"And I gave her one." he said while lifting the bottle with both hands "And well … you wouldn't believe what happened the-" she kicked him into a portal, right to where the gravestone was "Of course you know."

He didn't say anything then, no attempt to make a joke. No word at all. Both of them were in front of the gravestone. She didn't want to talk about anything that didn't have to do with her wife but that oaf of a friend wasn't leaving her alone. And he probably was the only one who truly understood her.

"I always thought that the two of you were sticking together. Through thick and thin, you know?" he said spinning the cover of the bottle. He held out the beverage to her. She eyes it for a few moments before shoving it back to him.

"I promised her never to drink."

"Not even to forget?"

"What good would it do me to forget the love she has given me?"

"Never thought about that one…Never could deal with pain and loss…"

They stood in silence. She honestly believed that this oaf would understand her…or at least why she choose to be what she currently was. The wind picked up, gently sweeping a few strands of hair off her face. Warm. Gentle. As if urging her to make a decision. "I never stopped watching." she confessed, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Every time I was away, I wasn't really. Summer always knew how to find me because I never left …never could for long. I watched you, Summer, Ruby and Yang from afar…those times Summer cried, those were the times I decided that something had to be done and that I was the only one who could…"

"So…she knew…b-but-"

"She never told you because I asked her not to. Summer, she-she promised me that she would keep it a secret where to find me and what I was doing…although it still isn't finished. There is still too much that has to be done and I honestly do not wish to involve Yang and Ruby in a war I had started."

Taiyang didn't say anything after that. Proving to her that she was right in knowing that he would understand. They enjoyed this moment, this single lonesome moment. As if in the presence of something that would keep them at peace.

"How long?" he asked, not turning to her while she slowly turned around to leave.

"Dunno, but I'll return before Ruby turns eighteen, that I can promise." hearing her own voice full of promise and warmth was a surprise. But the wind rustling her hair and warming her neck encouraged her to at least smile.

Just smile and embrace the warmth of the sun.

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 _A/N I hope you people have fun reading this story. I have fun writing it actually and that is probably a good thing, right?_

 _Okay, here is a announcement for both new and old time readers of my works: At the end of the week I'll launch a new blog -this time with wordpress- and am going to upload both fan art and fan fiction on it._

 _The important news is that chapter 13 of_ _ **I miss you**_ _will be an action packed chapter, drawn by me and uploaded next week on Friday if everything goes right on my blog as well as my pixiv, devianart and tumblr account._

 _Why I make this announcement now instead of when chapter 12 rolls in? Because there will be slight delays between the next few chapters._

 _Hope you have fun and that we'll see each other soon again XD_

 _Yours dear_

 _Sha Yurigami_


	11. Ice cream and Bowlerhats

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"So~ how do you explain me saving a teen from committing suicide and another from eating dirt out of the dumpster without sounding like a overconfident jerk and showoff?" she whispered sitting in front of the grave. She had mulled this over and over in her head and never came to a satisfying conclusion, although she already said it out loud.

"So~ where do I start? I was going around Vale this time, the night was cool and the moon as bright as your smile. I am allowed to be cheesy right? Not like you would listen to me being suave and never getting swooned right." she felt the wind trickle at her hair "Anyway, I walked around town and found a pretty big mansion on the outskirts of the city.

"Heck I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, my mission was to look up a few details and the only ones who had the necessary books were that family…though when I saw an orange haired boy standing right on the courtyard, I couldn't help but pause. The lights were out and a few cracks could be seen on the windows and front door. He wore a wrecked white suit and torn up shoes, but the thing I noticed immediately was the way he cried and cursed. That wasn't a child but an older teen who got punished for something. I decided to ignore him since he probably couldn't tell if someone was around him or not."

She paused, something was tugging at her heart and she wanted to voice it without sounding absurd "Say," she paused "It is not okay for a family to burn their child's fingers, right? No matter how you looked at it that was the thing that disturbed me the most. The way his fingers looked all charred and broken like that, they looked old and healed up nasty and I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. It was around them that I heard his apologies. That he was sorry for disobeying his mother and father. For visiting his excellent little sister without a guard watching him. That he played with her and carried her on his shoulders. And that he only wanted to see her smile."

The temperature around her heated up "Every word of apology, made me more furious, more wrathful. All I could see was a boy who cared for his sister and wanted her to be happy. And what did his parent see?! They saw him as a failure! Not even the Schnee's are that harsh with their kind and I know frigging Mr. Broom-up-my-Butt Schnee the third!"

A soft gust tickled her ear, caressing her cheek and a feeling of serenity washed over her consciousness.

She took a few breaths before continuing her story "Anyway, I couldn't bear to watch and ran into the building, obviously undercover and totally not obvious, but only found a lot of people slaughtered and dead. It wasn't anything I hadn't seen before but it was a little unsettling since the way they died was obviously through large shards of glass. I inspected the first few corpses but only found their souls gone as well as all their belongings. I searched through the bed rooms, trying to find the sister of that boy but couldn't. There was only a large splash of red on the ceiling in the only room that looked remotely like a girls. The books on the desk and the pictures on the walls looked burned and glass shards stuck on them. I knew what happened. I just didn't want to imagine how that boy felt when he saw this."

A gentle stroke of air caressed her face, soothed her mind and filled her with love and forgiveness.

"I, I really didn't want to stay there and looked for any signs of life, until I saw a picture of the boy and his family on the girl's desk. While the parents looked strict like hell, the little girl in his arms wore a round hat and the brightest smile I've ever seen, safe for Yang, and it made me dread…at least until I saw said hat resting on a stand in the corner."

She laid down once again, resting her head and mind in her memories.

"I took the hat, went to the boy and put it on his head. I told him _''Live and survive, no matter how dirty you get and live life to the fullest, to remember how his sister really did care for him and never give up his love for whatever his parents told him''_ think I did the right thing?" she asked feeling a ghostly embrace "He then told me his name was Roman. I told him it was a strong name and left him there. I'm pretty cruel aren't I? I just left him standing in the ruins of his shattered life and didn't even feel it in me to get him to the city."

Warmth spread on her hand and she imagined a beautiful hand stroking hers.

"And know what? When I went into the wilderness again, I saw a little girl with pink and brown hair getting chased around by Ursa Mayors, four of them. Sure they weren't a problem to me but the girl was barely above Yang's age and she somehow got in there. I suspected the brat to be a member of the staff since she wore rags instead of actual clothes and since I felt actually guilty for leaving Roman all on his own I decided to safe the her." she sighed "She ran into a clearing, probably didn't know that she wasn't going to be safe there, so I took my chance unleashed a brought attack and cleaved each of the Ursa's in half wit the indigo blue blade.

"The girl looked at me all terrified. I had checked her after I took care of the Grimm and saw minimal injuries from the outside, although…she was so shocked by whatever has happened around her that her voice wouldn't come out. I couldn't blame her, though I still grabbed her collar and practically dragged her back to Roman. Boy was shocked the moment I appeared from thin air and dropping a girl right in front of his feet. They looked at me all unsure before the brat threw his arms around her."

If the feeling on her skin were kisses, memories, from the past, then the feeling of guilt and pain were worth whatever good she had done. This feeling of completion had been missed. Had been desired. She still felt the tug on her chest though.

"I guess he broke a little. Both of them were so traumatized. This time however I opened up a portal and motioned for them to leave. Said _Don't turn back, life and survive it's the only way for you to move on._ before turning my back to them and stepping through it myself. I-I kept it open for a few moments and watched whether they'd come or not. Thankfully they did and I could leave them with feeling like a potential murderer…"

"Although you could have created one. Even if your intentions were pure and of a just cause, do not forget that children are easily influenced." a voice said, not far from her. A voice that spoke with both wisdom and age. It belonged to someone whom she hadn't expected to meet so soon.

She turned around, her eyes flaring bloody red while she locked eyes with one Professor Ozpin "What do you want?" she said fully aware that the man could just leave and she wouldn't be able to follow him at all. It was one of the mysteries she wanted to uncover but at the same time feared for what she might find.

"Do not worry. I didn't come here to arrest you. I certainly didn't come here to interrupt you talking to your wife. I apologize if I gave you that expression." the man said leaning on his cane while sipping from his mug. She relaxed slightly when she saw the understanding in his eyes and allowed herself to remain seated.

"No matter what they become in the future, as long as they survive it's a victory right?" her words were sound yet her heart knew that Ozpin had knowledge he shouldn't have.

"If" he started with a tone she always heard him use every time when he revealed a little more about the mysteries of this world "If I told you that Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan were going to be dangerous elements, not only for Remnant but your daughters as well?"

"And why would you say that? Why would you say that to me and not one of your guardians?"

"Those two are indebted to you. If they ever become radical elements I believe you are going to stop and lecture them. They are lives that you are responsible of after all, am I right Raven Branwen?"

"Why don't you just tell yourself to go to hell!" she screamed baring her sword at his neck, he remained unmoved and even smiled.

"Because I know that you are someone with a heart just as honest and beautiful as your wife's, that much I can see in your eyes." he whispered yet she heard every syllable he mutter as clear as if he had shouted them "You are more a guardian and a mother than most give you credit for and I know that you will make the right decision when the time comes. Summer told me that all those years ago and I will do everything in my power to make those claims reality."

She couldn't do it. Not after he said her name. Not when they were in front of her… . She couldn't bring herself to cut his throat. Nor could she deny his words, had they truly come from _her._

Sheathing he blade she stepped backwards, not meeting his eyes nor facing the grave behind her. The wound was still fresh. Still stung. Still hurt.

"Do what you want." she whispered.

"Ruby and Yang will." her eyes widened at his words and she felt compelled to cut his throat "After all they _are your_ daughters and I want to believe that they follow after their mothers footsteps faithfully."

"What do you want." she hissed, not willing to continue this conversation farther than necessary.

"Roman and Neopolitan will be important chess pieces for _them_ ,you need to be careful and keep a watchful eye on them. The White Fang is currently in turmoil after the last couple protests in Mantel were met with violence, please keep an eye out for the children. Also, please do me the favor and kick Qrow's groan so that the old grumpy shows up and does the jobs I had asked him to do."

She eyed him suspiciously "Are you telling me to play your games are something?"

"Of course not, I simply suggested a course of action." Ozpin answered, taking a sip from his mug "And believing in the heart that fell in love with Summer Rose."

She really hated him. Grabbing a chess piece -The Rook- out of her pocket and tossing it towards the man, she asked a single question "Let me guess, you can look into the future?"

"Of course, after all I have made more mistakes than any man or woman in remnant." he answered after catching the piece. She squinted her eyes at him, that sentence made no sense in context and she felt even worse alienation towards the gray haired headmaster.

He sighed at seeing her reaction "Reach the moon and you will understand what I am talking about" he muttered giving her a small smile before disappearing when she blinked once.

"Appearing and disappearing as if it was normal everyday business…sounds like Ozpin alright." she muttered turning to the grave. Her eyes burned red before she turned her back towards the cliff "Guess Next Stop's Vacuo."


	12. Stupidity,the only we haven't declined

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When she had arrived, it was already too late. The fire was slowly spreading where the stalls and tents were supposed to be. The docks were filled with evacuees and wounded children bemoaning their fate. Frantically she looked at every students face not caring if they looked at her strange or not -her mask long discarded out of fear the people thought of her as one of _them-_ only wanting to find something familiar in the mess she could or could not have prevented.

Students she recognized from the live feeds, faces she barely remembered to have met once or twice, people of importance and people she could care less about.

Looking. Searching for a familiar patch of yellow, red…or white…maybe black.

She saw it at the distance, just one jump away should she open her portal, yet it was bewildering and terrifying should she return to the place she turned her back to. Afraid to face the feelings she didn't want to embrace nor wanted to remember.

She leaped forward, not caring for the Grimm drawn toward her. She unsheathed her blade and tore trough them as thought they were butter. Her eyes flared up with the hardest red she ever felt rushing forward and shoving aside people left and right trying to escape the flooding beasts and _them._

They carried out their assault without a care, shooting into the masses. She was having none of that, strove forward and knocking out anyone with a rifle or other apparatus for murder until she saw the a bullhead falling towards the school.

Students of various schools and origins banded together and jumped out of the ship landing right in the mess of KNIGHTs and beasts. Daring to hope she looked at them each wishing for either of them to be among the group yet felt fear grip at her whence she saw none.

Without a thought she grabbed the nearest student, a boy that would normally tower over anybody with a huge sword strapped on his back, by the collar to bring him to eye level demanding to know where they were. Terrified as the boy was his eyes flashed with recognition once he looked into her eyes.

"Yang is in the dorm." he said "Ruby remained back on the tournament platform while Weiss and Blake are around here."

She thanked him by letting him fall to the ground. The ground beneath her began to burn from her standing around to long. The comfort for an easy decision was taken from her a long time ago, fighting with her inner self whether to run to either of them hoping they remained safe or to fight with the students and retake the school.

As said above, the right to decide was already taken from her. The terrifying roar of that beast resounded in the entire region. She didn't need to look back to see the approaching shadow break out of Mount Glenn, nor was she allowed to simply choose one thing above the other. In her plight she decided to venture into the building in hopes of finding one of them.

It didn't surprise her when the cafeteria began to burn -that place tended to- what did was finding something she hadn't expected. The sound of battle far far down beneath her feet.

Ozpin was fighting.

She didn't dare imagine what her was going up against, instead rushing through the building like a mad woman, move pebble and boulders in case anybody was trapped beneath them, worse if it was her baby.

The beast was still approaching, its giant wings vibrating the air while black tears dropped from its body, spawning more Grimm. More nightmares. More tragedies.

Despite being aware of it she continued forward, briefly watching a prided Atleasian battleship falling from the skies and something red, remarkably similar to her baby child's, falling towards the ground. Her heart stopped for an instance, until something else choke her out her soul.

A single cry.

The single, unmistakable, sound of metal cutting through flesh.

She rushed out from the floor she was on, jumped straight out of the window, right towards the ground. The sounds of battle raged on while she strove forward, towards what she knew would turn her mad. She knew yet couldn't prepare herself, such was the situation they were all in.

In the front yard of beacon, laid a beautiful garden, a fountain, the statue of heroes encouraging those who wanted to become such, children who fought for their lives against enemies that neither felt nor knew love to begin with. And where the wounded rested they laid.

Ren and Nora were breathing heavily, panting and looking as close to tears as she remembered them all those years back. In front of them were two girls she never ever wanted to see in that way. Her eyes briefly wondered over Blake, noticing how she held onto her side which bleed profusely but her attention was ripped right of that when she saw what wasn't there anymore.

Her baby. Her little firedragon. Always brimming with life, with energy and the will to move foraward no matter how much pain she went through, how much it hurt.

Her baby!

Her baby's arm!

Her beautiful daughter's right arm!

She couldn't care less what people thought about her. She couldn't care less how she looked or how she acted. Her rage was burning, searing through her skin and hair. Whatever was close to her, turned then stepped back. Grimm, Automatons, humans, nothing approached her, afraid.

"Where" she whispered knowing that Blake could hear her. The girl's amber eyes widened, while tears fell and words of apology left her lips over and over before pointing towards the school building.

"Thanks," she whispered moving past the row of hunters and huntresses in training who parted for her. She pulled out her blade cutting anything in her path that dared to oppose her, splitting apart any who came even a fraction too close, her shadow slowly resembling a dark beast burning through anything.

For but a brief moment she watched the CCT bursting in flames, with explosions rocking its foundations while a pod shot through the air. _Ozpin_ she thought, discarding her worries however once she felt his presence not far from her, barely flickering, barely alive. Her rage however would not permit her to just leave, to just stay put and do nothing.

Then she saw it.

An airship was leaving from the forest. Its hatch was open while a lone figure hung from it, clothed in dark with sharp red hair that glared into the ever darkening sky and a white skull mask.

She recognized that face, that mask and the aura so oppressive that it could stifle the air around it.

 _He_ was leaving.

 _He was leaving!_

The bastard that dared to hurt her baby was leaving, just like that! Her aura flared up scorching anything that dared to be in her way.

Yet a gentle gust quenched her anger. A reminder that there are things that should be taken care of. She knew it was stupid.

Dumb.

Incorrigible.

All she wanted to be part of her family once more and now?! Now she had to watch _that_ leave unscathed while her little baby dragon was fighting for her life.

Instead of following what her mind was telling her, she decided to trust her guts and safe what could be saved. A decision she did and didn't regret once the dragon latched onto the Tower and blinding white-silver light burst from the top.

She would get her vengeance however, no matter how long it will take.

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 _A/N I case you haven't seen it, I have uploaded my profile with new information as well as two blog sites. You may want to read chapter 13 on my tumblr or wordpress blog since the format is easier to read that way, although I had to split the chapter into three parts on tumblr due to size and stability of each image._

 _While my tumblr site will exist mainly to upload my drawn works, they will still be posted on my wordpress site since that is the main site._

 _Please enjoy what you enjoy and leave a comment if you wish to._

 _Yours dear,_

 _Sha Yurgami_


	13. Raven vs Adam

**To the people who failed to read my A/N in the last chapter, this chapter was drawn and was uploaded on my wordpress page, pixiv, tumblr and partially deviant art site.** **Please do me the favour and leave a comment so that I can bring better content and improve in my Art**


	14. Revenge is made with chocolate and pain

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"So~ what exactly were you thinking when you went and did what you did?" Qrow asked her, unsure whether it was the right question to ask three days after sharing his flat and her crashing onto his bed and "occupying" it with two toddlers.

Heck her was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to come out as insensitive but the glare she gave him was more than enough to make him rethink some of his life decisions.

"What?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow. He knew that expression well and knew exactly what was going to happen to him if her dared make a joke about this.

"I meant those kids." he pointed at his room, still unsure whether he should be concerned or play dumb at this point "Why do you have kids with you?"

"Three days. It's been three days and now is the time that you think about asking me? Qrow, dear brother, you are clearly getting soft."

He gave a gruff at that giving a glare of his own "I had thought you adopted those brats 'cause, maybe, you wanted to know what it's like to be a mother, but clearly you only cared for yourself while the kids only got ice cream and chips. Raven what are you thinking."

She didn't answer him at first. Instead she took her cup and filled it with milk and sugar. Qrow grimaced at the amount of sweetness and cringed away from the beverage. Even then she didn't look up. After turning her spoon left and right, up and down in the cup she took it into her hands an drank the entire thing in one gulp.

His jaw nearly dropped "Since when did you-"

"When Summer died" she began and immediately shut her brother -it was the first time Raven talked about what happened to her wife and he sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt her- "she, she always like sweet things. All the time when we went on dates she just up and left me the moment she saw a candy store or bakery. It was funny how she would droll at the displays…"she looked close to tears yet as soon as emotions bubbled towards the surface the hard unforgiving look returned "I-…before she d-died she found me close to a little village at the outskirts of Vale. It only had a few barns, an orphanage and a town hall and despite the majority of the people living there being old or children a few huntsmen settled there…I was thinking of throwing the brats there and be done with them."

Just as he thought he would get an answer from her, she immediately turned it around. Classic Raven. Classic.

"And you are here, why?"

"Because I have nowhere else to go."

"What about home? The cottage? Anywhere but the most obvious place?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you don't want your baby sis to be close to you?" she raised an eyebrow sceptically, at which Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Oh~, so now I'm the older twin? He, how gracious of you lil' sis." he mocked leaning backwards on his chair, he kept his balance by hooking his feet to the table legs. Noticing this his dear sister delivered a mean kick to his shin making him topple backwards onto the ground with a loud groan.

"You knew this was going to happen." she stated while looking down on him.

"Didn't hurt pushing my luck." he joked, smiling to himself as well as remembering the good ol' days. Oh, how he missed those days where the future of the world wasn't resting on their shoulders and they just had fun as a team. Heck it was he most peaceful time he had ever seen his sister in. always smiling, laughing and cuddling up to Summe-

"You look like you remember something awful."

"The good old times."

"No wonder. Was the happiest time I ever saw you in."

Both of them couldn't help themselves, he facade they created, slowly breaking as they giggled uncontrollably. They continued doing so even after a little black haired boy walked into the room, ignored them and went to the kitchen. His orange haired friend right behind him snickering at the twins antics.

"He he, damn it, we still have that twin telepathy thingy." he joked getting up from the ground while his sister still let hr giggling roll off "When was the last time you laughed Raven?"

She shot him a look, a non hostile one for once, before a sad smile played on her lips "That's…why I got here. You still get me. And I still get you. We are family after all and," she scratched her neck "Does it sound strange if I said I missed my bro?"

His eyes were as big as saucers.

"What?" she asked when she saw his expression.

"Repeat that"

"No"

"Oh come on! Do you know how long I have waited to hear that?! My entire frigging life!"

"Wait? *Frigging*? Since when-"

"Swear patrol, your kids make me pay them every time I swear and I tell you, I had to give them more than trice there pocket money."

"They…they do" she whispered, a smile actually playing on her lips, though her brother opted to kick the chair she sat on, resulting in her falling on her butt.

"That being said, you owe me three hundred lien." her eyes nearly buckled out of her head.

"What the heck!? How much did you swear in front of my babies?!"

"Five times in total and all about you dear sister. Taiyang just gives them that much." he answered with a cocky grin dodging the kick to his shin while his sister jumped off the ground "Also, *heck*?"

"There are children here Qrow, not that you have noticed. And I'm going to have a serious talk with Taiyang if he continues to neglect his caretaker role."

"You mean making him scream like a girl?" she nodded.

"Like how he did during initiation?" another nod.

"While running from the Deathstalker I agitated as a prank to see if his bragging was the real deal?" an evil smile formed on the twins faces.

"Man those were good times" he admitted noticing the hand on his chest too late and feeling the full brunt of the twist. The pain was so sudden that the air in his lungs only came out in form of a screech while his knees gave in and let him drop to the floor.

"That, little brother, was revenge for your little stunt just now." she said with sadistic glee spreading on her features. He only continued to glare at her while rubbing his poor nipple with as much tenderness as possible -no homo- planning his revenge. Until he smelled something.

"Do you smell that?" he asked taking a few more sniffs from the air, his sister mimicking him.

"Smells like-"

"PANCAKES!" a scream so loud that it made them cover their ears echoed throughout the whole apartment and maybe the whole building. They looked at each other quickly before bursting towards the kitchen.

The sight that greeted them was not at all expected.

Loads of pancakes were staked on top of each other, greedily devoured by an orange haired girl while a black haired boy was expertly moving the fry pan in front of him. The boy turned around and greeted them with a nod before using his spatula to present them a pancake.

The adults certainly didn't know how to react to this, looked at each other and muttered a "Thank you" before each took a plate.

"Should I make you some hot chocolate?" Qrow asked going to his fridge.

"Sure."

"I was talking to the kids."

"I, should I remind you, am your little sister. I have special privileges." she said while pointing his fork at his nose.

"Sure, you're only the younger sibling when you need something."

"And you are better off remembering that."

The kids watched the adults bickering back and forth. The dark haired boy only shook his head while carefully cutting his pancake before a large portion of syrup was dumped on it. He looked at the sweetness in horror sighing when he saw the happy expression on his friends face.

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 _AN: Yeah, no excuse for this one. Heck I had so much fun writing the Qrow and Raven bits that I'm thinking of doing more of that later in another story XD_

 _Feedback is always welcome and as a warning, the next chapter will be the second to last._

 _Thanks for 5,143 views by the way XD_

 _Yours dear,_

 _Sha Yurigami_


	15. Things we lost and let go

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"Where were you?" Qrow asked her once she stormed into his hotel room. She didn't know how she got there but it didn't matter as she pushed him aside and threw herself onto his bed "And why thank you for stealing my bed! AGAIN!"

"I'm such a failure!" she screamed into the pillow making her brother jump from shock at the despair in her voice "I wasn't able to be with her! I wasn't even able to protect her and I dare call myself her mother?! I didn't even finish off that bastard for cutting off her arm for Pete's sake!"

"Seriously? For Pete's sake? I didn't know you were so old fashioned." he said while she finally turned to face him with her eyes a blazing inferno. They widened however once she saw his smile and the tears falling from his eyes. He hadn't noticed them.

"I didn't know you could cry, never saw you do since the day mum and dad died." she whispered, afraid of her own voice breaking what started to form between the siblings. He slowly brought his hand to his face touching his tear stricken cheek and looking down at the liquid.

"Guess I'm just happy that my sis still cares. Still is there inside that mess." Qrow answered nearly falling over once he saw Raven cry as well "Okay, **now** that is freaky!"

"Oh, shut it." she said with a huff "Not like you haven't seen me cry before."

"I never did. You always hid somewhere every time you got sentimental, remember?" his voice betrayed the laughter and the sadness "The only one who saw you cry was Summer, right?" felt a tap on his shoulder, wondering what it was he turned around and came face to face with a face he hadn't seen for nearly ten years.

He fell flat on his butt while Raven actually didn't laugh at him -which made this even scarier since she always laughed at his expense- while he watched a dead person float around without a body and cloaked in a white cape. He had seen strange things on his journey, Grimm the sizes of small towns, an actual Grimm Dragon flying over Vale, the Maidens and worst of all Ozpin going throw spacetime itself and where was he drawing the line: Ghosts

"Summer" she said watching how her wife floated to her and kissed her on the mouth -Qrow actually looked away but still wore his shocked face- before laying on top of her like a blanket. The ridiculousness of this situation wasn't past her but she wouldn't bother trying to make sense of it and instead embraced the feeling of tranquility which pushed her into dreamland.

Qrow on the other hand looked at the scene as if he got kicked in the gut -although a big goofy smile found its way onto his face slowly- before getting up and watching the wives laying peacefully on his rented bed.

It was unfair he decided when he watched them.

Here Raven actually got the chance to reunite with her wife after Summer had died and every where else people lost somebody. Then again, he was sure that Summer would cut off his balls should he ever voice his complains. A feeling of dread and the feeling of happiness washed over his head and heart and he couldn't help but look at them for a little longer.

"Just what were you up to Raven." he mutter after seeing some blood forming on the palms of his sister while her back and legs looked bruised. Heck he hadn't seen her this beaten up since Raven fought against Ironwood. Ah the good ol' days, he thought before noticing his scroll acting up.

"What's wrong?" he asked his informant in Atlas who apparently had to call him for urgent news.

"The White Fang is retreating from Atlas." they said and his eyes fell wide open "It looks like Adam Taurus fought some unknown assailant who was said to look like a raven from the distance before disappearing, another report says that he got axed by a white ghost but no matter the reason we actually can note down a victo-…"

Qrow hadn't stopped listening. He was fully aware of what was said to him. But he couldn't take his eyes off either Raven or the ghost who shouldn't have existed. He knew, deep down he always knew, and the tears tickling his beard wouldn't stop to fall. For the first time in ten years he felt a spark in his chest.

The same spark he felt when his sister married Summer.

The same spark he felt when he saw Yang cradled by Team STRQ and the smile on the little bundle's mothers faces.

The same spark he felt when Summer told him she would carry Raven's child this time.

A faint spark so beautiful and lost in this world of nightmares. So small and insignificant that it could disappear were he to ever let it go again. Knowing if he did, then it would be the last human act of him.

It was stupid and sentimental. Insane and glorious. It was everything they had desired and nothing they had wished for. It was the one thing he wanted to see no matter what and thought it would never happen.

His dream.

His dream of seeing his family, each one of them, around that damn dinning table in the old Branwen estate that he took great care of since little Yang and Ruby went there all those years back.

A dream he knew of being childish. He just wanted to see it again.

Their smiles.

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 _A/N: the next chapter will be the last. In case you didn't know, the 13th chapter is up on my tumblr, deviant art and pixiv page, please do me a favor and tell me your honest opinion of my first action work on the internet._

 _As I said before the next chapter marks the end of the story but not the end of my RWBY fanfictions, next chapter will be a big announcement and I hope you'll be there to see it XD_


	16. Some Secrets aren't that secret at all

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Final Chapter

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"We have to much talk about" Raven started when Yang finally managed to walk up to her. Sure she hadn't expected her daughter to smile or run up to her for a hug but she was surprised of the lack of physical rejection. She actually expected her daughter to at least try and punch her, the only thing she got was a red eyed glare.

"Sure we do."

She hadn't expected the rejection to be emotional.

"I love you." she said out of the blue. It was something neither of them expected to hear today, now or any given time but the least she could do was be honest with her feelings and get the most important things out of her system. The following conversation was going to be heavy anyway, no need to start moody.

As if triggered by the sudden confession of motherly love Yang's eyes flared red, immediately releasing the burning hatred she knew her daughter had for her.

"How-How dare you-" her child started.

"How dare I just leave you when you could barely walk. How dare I just come back to save you on that train all those months ago only to tell Qrow that I won't come and do it again. How dare I just come back, tell you to meet me at beacon in the middle of the night and say that I never stopped loving you? I know what you are going to say…I said the same things over and over again to myself. For failing you."

"W-why." she couldn't bear look at her, her child, her little baby dragon. She couldn't bear hearing that strong girl break because of her. Because of her failure.

"I had to leave…had to keep you all safe…" she whispered, feeling excuses form on her lips, down her throat but didn't dare voice any of them.

"And from what?!" Yang screamed, aura flaring up and burning the ground beneath her feet "What was so important that you couldn't rely on anybody?! What was so important that you didn't even say anything to mum?" her voice broke at the mention of Summer. She couldn't blame her, but- "You loved her didn't you?"

Her eyes opened wide. Wider then they ever were. Taking a long good look at her child who was so close to tears, so close to breaking. She had to endure so much. Her baby had to face all those hardships all on her own without her mommies.

"How, how did you-…?"

"Dad told me before I came here."

"Oh"

"While arguing with Uncle Qrow for an hour."

"O-ka-"

"Before they started to fight with one another since they weren't supposed to tell me or Ruby for that matter."

"…Can I talk now?"

"…Sure."

Raven didn't know what exactly happened but the conversation she had envisioned with her daughter derailed faster than Summer's "accidental misdirection of affection". Her eyes focused for the briefest of moments on her daughters right arm, before she had to avert her gaze. The pain was still too fresh and the sorrow she felt nearly crushed her then.

"I actually expected something else" she admitted.

"Yeah" she looked at Yang, such a meek reaction from the once so bright and cheerful girl; she didn't know how to feel about that.

"Trust me when I say that the first thing I wanted to do was punch your face…" fiery red irises focused onto her. Her own staring back just as intently.

"…How come everyone wants to hit my face?" she asked aloud before catching herself. _Great_ she thought, Pandora's box slowly opening "It ain't that _**pun-**_ ny, knowing that my own _baby-bird_ wants to n- _ **(m)ob-**_ _e_ me."

She cursed inwardly. How dare she open her accursed mouth and start _that_ after all those years! And those puns were-

"Those puns…were horrendous." Yang said, smiling somewhat at the lame attempt to lighten the mood. Raven didn't know what happened, she didn't care either but at least it was something that made sense to her.

"Hope this confirms your _nightmares_ "

"I'm a tough cookie. You're nothing I haven't had to deal with."

"With or without chocolate dibs. And I doubt you've ever met someone like me in your entire life."

"Raisins. _**Bite**_ me."

"HERESY!" she screamed unable to hide the wide smile on her lips "That dried up fruit has no place within the dough of delicious and sugary perfection that is Cookies!"

For but a second they returned to silence before the smiles grew in size and a fit of giggles escaped their lips. It was something she had dreamed about, wished for, desired without ever voicing it.

They continued to laugh for a while, unable to form words or thoughts. She leaned backwards and dropped unceremoniously onto her butt at the fountain. She motioned for Yang to join her but the little Firedragon refused. The smile on her lips dropping slightly.

"How come I can still laugh like this" she began gripping at what was left of her right arm "after all that happened" tears spilled from her eyes "Why am I laughing even though I-I-"

Concern flooded her heart and she got back up again, approaching her child but Yang stepped out of her range when she closed in.

"…"

"Yang? What happened to Ruby?"

"…"

"If you don't talk to me, at least punch me! Do anything with your anger!"

"And What!? What can I possibly do with how I am. All of you left. All of you. First you, then mum , then my friends one by one! My school was destroyed, my life was ruined by that Monster and all on Remnant went to hell! Then Ruby left. She left. She left and she will never return because I am fucking useless! I can't do anything! I – I-…Blake…" her voice starting from angry slowly dissolved into sobs. Tears fell from her eyes. Pain was in her voice. Sadness was in Raven's heart.

"Do you think Blake left because she thought your were weak?"

At her words Yang immediately looked up, eyes blazing red with unspoken venom nearly surfacing "How do you know that name?"

She had seen that look. It was the same she gave herself every morning to remind herself that she left her children on their own. That she was the reason that their pain didn't go away.

"I might have -accidentally- influenced her to get katana." she said starting to scratch her neck. Yang just continued to stare at her with a blank expression so she added "See, when I went to Atlas to observe a Faunus Rights Demonstration the Atleasean military decided it was the perfect opportunity to let their newest version of their KNIGHTs at the people. Of course I wasn't allowed to intervene but I still kind of saved Blake before she got shot…sadly enough Adam was there as well…he probably recruited her after I decided to disappear again."

A very long moment of silence fell between them.

Hesitant at first Raven decided to be a little truthful to her child, she did say they needed to talk about a lot, "From what I saw with your interactions I knew that you are someone irreplaceable to her. Think about it for a second, whom else but you could she turn to. You two were basically inseparable and I know that she struck the right kind of nerves within you-"

"Wowowowow! What?!"

"I mean," she decided to be blunt "You've got a big fat crush on her and I am more than sure that she was more than ready to throw herself at you, had you asked, but since her dear little _vermin_ of an ex-boyfriend showed up she most likely stirred his attention from you to her – she cares about you, I'm sure of it."

She didn't know if she had said to much, Summer did always tell her that she talked to much when the night was far to short, but at least she got one of the biggest points crossed on her list. Except that Yang appeared as if her brain just stopped functioning.

"Come again? What? Why- How?" the light bulbs on her head started to light up "Have you been watching me?!"

"Oh, not only you but your whole team … and maybe Ren and Nora … okay maybe mostly Ren and Nora since the little Miss Valkyrie tended to be -what's the right word- dangerous and I didn't want her to make enemies with my girls."

"Wait what? Wait what?! **Wait what?!** And what do you mean with _your girls_ **?!** " Yang screamed making Raven confused.

"What do you mean? I though Taiyang already told you that me and Summer were married."

"Wowowowowowow! He only told me that you and mum were a couple but married?! Your were married to MUM!?"

"And had Ruby together … although that was after I had to leave-" she admitted, sinking into her own mind to refresh the emotions and memories she had tried to forget.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"I mean, she did kind of violate me without my consent, having Taiyang as our donor and choosing me to have the kid and than gave birth to your little sis without telling me" she already stopped listening to rearrange the things that made sense in her brain, coming slowly to the conclusion that Summer might have tricked her into taking a more important role in the life of their children.

"WOW! Hold the presses! **What?!** " Yang's voice rose to the unimaginable which resulted in Raven finally noticing he expression of pure horror on her babies face, slowly coming to a terrifying conclusion…

"Taiyang, didn't tell you." her face paled, all the blood in her body having decided to flow right into her legs where they cramped and petrified her.

"You-Mum-you both? But?" she saw the look of confusion on her daughters face as a chance to tell her it wasn't what it sounded like.

Of course her mouth betrayed her.

"Weiss' mum helped Summer."

"…"

"…"

The silence that followed was so unbearable that she wished Summer and Qrow hadn't talked her into meeting her children. She would rather go hunt down those Grimm loving bastards on the dark side of the moon before facing her daughter in the same way she did now.

"You followed me and my team" Yang voiced, her tone unsure and her eyes unfocused "How long?"

Raven didn't know what she was supposed to say or do. Taiyang apparently dropped the entire responsibility of explaining onto her and she never had to stay still for this long. The urge to punch a certain Crow came but she dropped it in favor of answering.

No need to run away if her heart was already settled on being honest.

"Since the day I left you. From time to time I visited Vale and Patch, took care of Nora and Ren when their parents died, then got hunted down by Summer…"she paused for a moment "I just…not on the day Summer disappeared."

"…"

"After…" a tear ran from her eyes, Yang saw it, eyes wide but not saying a word "After that I visited as many times as possible, watching you both grow and become stronger…During my journey I, well I kind of kidnapped Weiss and dragged her around for a bit, even visiting Patch, the grave…" Yang's eyebrows rose above her face, disbelieve apparent on her face, she actually enjoyed seeing that expression.

"Do, you want to take a break?"

"No"

"But-"

"I know it's a lot to take in but you and I both know that I'd lose my brain if I tried to make sense of what you told me so before that happens tell me the rest."

Raven looked at her slightly unsure "You aren't angry?"

"Heck, I could kill you for what you did to me and Ruby but that wouldn't give us back what we have lost…what you took from us."

Her crimson eyes widened. She knew those words were coming. Knew that they were going to hurt. But she couldn't imagine the pain her heart was in, it felt that all her time in silent self-loathing couldn't prepare her for the punch in her guts those were.

"Then, when me and Ruby-"

"You went to the old hut me and Summer stayed at when I gave birth to you…you know how they say _Birds_ always know where their home is…I went there on that day as well…" she didn't need to say anything more, Yang understood her words. But that didn't stop the tears from falling. Her vision became blurry.

She took out a white handkerchief from her backpocket and slowly started to dry the tears that flowed on her cheeks. When she was finished she handed it to Yang. Unsure whether her child would take it she tried to push her luck.

It would pay out nicely.

"So I _was_ that _close._ " her little firedragon muttered burying her face into the fabric. Her right arm hanging limply from her shoulder. She averted her heating gaze, finding the grass at the distance to be the victim of her death stare.

"…I never wanted to leave." she admitted.

"Then why did you?"

She looked into her daughter's face, seeing how broken her soul must feel at this very moment.

"Would it sound cliché if I said that I did to protect my family?"

"Worse."

"Ouch. Qrow wasn't kidding when he said you took more after Summer than me." Yang averted her eyes. She sighed feeling the weight of all their lives on her shoulders. Yet she refused to rumble under the pain. Raven Branwen was done looking for excuses.

"There exists this old evil. It had existed for as long as man. It tried many times to destroy humanity but never succeeded-"

"And here we go." Yang said out of nowhere, interrupting her history lesson "There always is some kind of old evil thing from the past that will eradicate all of humanity if no one stops it. If read that kind of story all the time to Ruby. She loved those kinds of books, still does, so please give me the real reason."

Raven only stared at her "The Grimm are a hive mind." was all she needed to say to make Yang pale "They have existed as long as man for a reason and those old legends were woven to enforce your believes. To give hope and life where the Grimm take it away."

"Wait. We are talking about Grimm here?"

"Of course, and nothing else. Do you know how long Goliaths live?"

"Does anybody?"

"The longer they live the more intelligent they get. And let us not forget that they come in all forms and shapes." Her gaze was serious making Yang take a deliberate step back.

"I don't like where this is going." she whispered and Raven had to agree.

"There are human shaped Grimm, and I fought one." she admitted, her eyes lingering on the Grass, memories of Blackness and pain gripping her heart but a gentle gust reminded her off where she was "Since then they have been on the hunt for me."

Her baby-dragon looked scared. Terrified even. She couldn't blame her. That knowledge was terrifying in itself but to know the reason why her mother had to leave her was just cruel.

"You've been runnin-" Yang started but Raven wouldn't have that.

"Fought. And still do to this day. Me, Ozpin and maybe the Late Penny Mk1 were the only ones to know of their existence and we continued our fight to this day…I'm sorry for never showing myself to you, but I was always there. Watching. Guarding. I even met Ruby per accident-" and she just had to bring that up didn't she?

"Wait. You've met-" her baby's eyes turned red. She wouldn't blame her. Couldn't really "Am I the only one who never got to meet my mom? Am I the only one that yo-" and instead of letting her child rage on in her hatred she stepped into her personal space and embraced the child she wanted to hold for so long.

"I never stopped loving you." she whispered, her voice breaking from the tears falling from her eyes, and her child's fist slamming into her belly "And I knew that I wouldn't be able to leave if I ever saw you directly. I never wanted any of this." she tightened her embrace feeling Yang's resistance slowly dropping. The intensity of her hits slowing, softening.

She was embraced in return. So tightly she could have sworn her back was cracking. She didn't mind at all, once she felt a ghostly white hand slowly whipping the tears from her cheeks. Raven opened her eyes, meeting a Silver gaze directed at both her and their daughter. A smile grazed their lips as eh held onto Yang for a while longer.

"Can you let me go already?" she asked softly. But her kid decided she hadn't been hugged tightly enough and nearly crushed her in this embrace.

"…No…" came the sob and she couldn't help but smile once more.

"We have more than enough time, we can look for Ruby and Weiss, and Blake" Yang tensed at the mention "and I also want you to meet someone."

Apparently very reluctantly Yang slowly let go of her, showing her tear streaked face -incidentally mirroring her own- before her lilac eyes looked around "What are you talking about, here is nobody els-" her words left in a breath. Slowly Raven stepped backwards, out of her child's embrace and allowing the one she loved more than anyone else to finally reunite with their child.

" _Yang"_ a ghostly whispered left Summer as she took in her daughter, slowly approaching the girl who hadn't moved since she saw the ghost. Without a warning their child jumped into Summer's embrace.

Incoherent noises flooded out of Yang's mouth while snot and tears and everything in-between ran down her face.

"She just stopped crying" Raven lectured "and you just had to make her cry some more didn't you?" the ghost smiled at her apologetically.

"Hey, no reason to look at me like that. You've been her mother longer than I could have ever been." she hadn't realized that Summer pulled her into the hugged when it was already too late- not that she minded but damn did her eyes hurt from crying.

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"So, what now?" Yang asked in the embrace of her mothers. _Mothers._ She still had to make sure she wasn't letting her brain run on overdrive. Right now she only wanted to process the information that One: her mother was apparently really keeping her and Rubes safe. Two: Mum was still somehow alive-kinda- and was running her ghost like fingers through her hair. Three: She had two mums and a sperm donor … the last one made her a little sad. So Taiyang had been lying to her and Ruby for their entire life -sure he raised them but she couldn't forgive how he shut down when mum well disappeared- so she had to punish him when the time comes.

"Don't worry. I'm going to give your bio-father an earful, a drop into Emerald Forest and a kick to the groin. Then we are going to search for your friends, teammate, Ruby and your beloved Blake." mother told her to which she had to blush.

"Oh gawd! Could you please stop that? I am not in love with Blake okay!"

"I never said you were _in_ _love_." Raven smirked and she know that her mother was just as bad a tease as herself … great at least something other than the puns was inheritory. Now that she thought about it, _Puns run in the family?!_

She hid from her mother's teasing in mum's arms _slash_ hands -seriously she totally wasn't sure how to feel about her mother being a head, a cape, two hands and radiance- until she saw those silver eyes she missed so so much look at her right arm.

She hid it as best as she could, feeling shame invade her heart and mind before she felt soft hands pull her chin up. A warm and unmistakably familiar pressure was applied to her forehead. So wonderful that a tear slipped from her eyes -damn had she cried a lot tonight.

"Sorry about that." Raven whispered while Summer nodded "We could have finished him off…but somehow I couldn't break that promise with Summer, I even stopped him from cutting his throat."

Yang looked at them, seeing the apologetic looks and the regret in their eyes. A smile formed on her lips "Good, cause I wanted to be the gal to break his face."

Her mothers looked at her, both with wide eyes, before bright smiles marred their faces. The got closer to her and embraced her as wonderfully as before. And for the first time in a very very long time Yang felt the love and hope she had felt as a child burn brightly in her heart. Like the roar of a dragon breaking the silence of the cold night and basking the world in brilliant fire. She pulled her mothers up, smiling at them for the first time.

She knew what they were going to do next.

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 _A/N I love you people! I seriously do and I hope you enjoyed the final as much as I enjoyed writing it (for some strange reason RWBY Ost 6 . Gold quieter moments fit the emotional moments in this story very nicely) and I hope that you'll accompany me to the next RWBY stories I've planned out!_

 _Since Rosebird is such a rare Ship I enjoyed writing for it even more and I plan to do so more in the future._

 _The next RWBY story I planned was a RWBY x Fate/Zero crossover drawn and written by me. NO the characters will not be summoned as Servants, I have a different twist for that, but I hope that you'll look to my websites and fin enjoyment in it as well._

 _I also plan to make a One-Shot collection story focusing on different Ships I like so look forward to that too._

 _See you next time,_

 _Yours dear,_

 _Sha Yurigami_

 _p.s. Before I forget it, can anybody please be so kind and check my story F/Zero Requiem and tell me why barely anybody wants to read it? That would be most kind  
_


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